


Together

by Desert Dragonfly (bookbeachbunny)



Category: The Walking Dead
Genre: Comic book character, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-27
Updated: 2016-09-27
Packaged: 2018-08-18 06:02:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8151598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookbeachbunny/pseuds/Desert%20Dragonfly
Summary: Carol and Daryl on their own after Negan. They are happy although they do miss the family but an unexpected arrival brings back memories and threatens to throw everything into turmoil.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers: This is mostly about Carol and Daryl being on their own together but the ending does mention a comic book character and kind of implies all the horrible to come from the comics (which they aren't anywhere near.) It's just a storyline from the comic that I was thinking if tweaked for the show Carol and Daryl could potentially be very emotionally involved in.  
> Mostly came from my watching a Youtuber who said he didn't think there was any story left for Carol. :/

I.

They had been on their own for a while when the snow hit. Definitely the worst weather they had since the apocalypse started but it wasn’t like they weren’t ready for it. It had been about a year since the end of the war with Negan. Since they decided to set out on their own. Four months they had been in this old craftsman they had stumbled across.  
Things had been going well in more ways than one.  
They worked together well.  
They lived together well.  
They did everything together well.  
Once the temperature started to drop Daryl knew they were going to have to stay put even longer. A big part of him wanted Carol safe and sound. He could keep her safe from the walkers. They could keep each other safe. But the longer it was just the two of them the more he feared the living people who would end her in a heartbeat. And sometimes when he was having one of those days when the memories were too much he would simply fear her catching a cold or getting a cut and not being able to stop the inevitable. He knew she thought the same things about him.  
Hell, she told him that not long after Negan.  
So they found the big old house and made sure it was clear and clean. Then Daryl went back and second checked everything.  
Was this being happy?  
Was this being in love?  
Sometimes he thought love might be a total fear of losing the other person. “You’re doing it again,” Carol told him one night after they made love and curled up in bed. It hadn’t taken long for Daryl to become used to her touching him. It hadn’t taken long for it to feel completely natural.  
He liked her touching him. She was always gentle. Especially with his back. They had come to the point where he could let her run her hands up and down his back and over his scars. Okay, that had started when they made love which had, in the beginning, been fairly frenzied and wild.  
“Doing what?”  
“Looking at me funny.”  
“How am I supposed to look at you?”  
She smiled then but buried her face in his shoulder. He knew she was blushing though. He could feel it.  
He held her closer and kissed her forehead while listening to the wind howling outside. His traps were good. He felt they were secure but there would still be watches. For the small fire they had burning if nothing else. Daryl did tend to sleep with one eye open. “I love the snow,” she told him adjusting her head. “Well, I love the winter. It will be nice provided we don’t freeze to death.”  
“We won’t.”  
“Maybe the walkers will.”  
Daryl grunted.  
“And maybe if they freeze they just won’t wake up again.”  
He ran his hands up and down her back. “Well, there’s science for you.”  
“Don’t tease.”  
“Hey, you may be right.”

When they had first started out all those months ago it hadn’t been that weird. Mainly because they were alone. Daryl preferred that in some cases. No one to look down on them. No one to compare him to. He couldn’t have imagined how many people they would have scared if they remained with the others in those early months when everything had been new and they couldn’t keep their hands off each other.  
The real problem was that there was only the two of them and now that made him nervous. Daryl didn’t want to leave her behind to go out on runs and he knew she felt the same. He also didn’t want to take her into potentially dangerous situations. Which was pretty much all of them.  
But they had worked that out mostly because she was stubborn and headstrong and he’d rather trust her to have his back then anyone else.  
The next morning with just the first dusting of snow on the ground they made one last trip into the town. It was the third trip overall and he knew there wasn’t much left but he wanted to be sure they had all the supplies they could. This storm would be a bad one.  
That’s why they decided to try the old vintage clothing store and in the back, in one of the fitting rooms, is where Daryl found the red coat. Someone must have tried it on those last days long ago. Daryl noticed the color immediately even before he brushed a layer of dust off it. It was a brilliant red. It would look good with her eyes.  
And most importantly it would keep her warm.  
“Daryl? You good?”  
“Found you something.” He shook it out quickly even though the dust wasn’t that bad and wrapped it around her before she could protest.  
“I can’t take this.”  
“Why not?”  
“It’s too nice.”  
“Carol…”  
After a minute she gave in and put her arms through the sleeves. Of course she had to maneuver the heavy weapon she had been carrying. Daryl smirked. It wasn’t like they had gone full on normal after all.  
“It’s warm…”  
Daryl even buttoned up the coat for her. “It’s perfect. You can still move easily too,” then he noticed something that he didn’t entirely understand that completely worried him. “Why the hell are you crying?”  
“I’m not!”  
“You are!”  
She wiped away a tear and tried to turn away but Daryl pulled her back to him. “This is a really nice coat Daryl.”  
“So? That’s the point.”  
“No one’s ever given me something so nice before.”  
Daryl didn’t know quite what to make of that. He kind of got it and he kind of didn’t. “It’s a coat…”  
“Come on. Let’s go home.”  
“If I find you some meat are you going to cry for a month?” he teased. Of course then she turned around stood on her toes grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and kissed any more teasing right out of him.  
“See, you can’t go doing that!”  
“What?”  
No more tears now.  
“It’s unfair.”  
“Why?”  
"It's cheating!"

II.

The storm arrived that night.  
Daryl watched the first flakes from the bed where he had a clear view of the window. For a second he thought to wake Carol up but decided to let her sleep. By morning it was a blizzard and the whole wretched world had gone white and quiet and calm. They had plenty of firewood and they’d been hungrier.  
“Snow can’t last forever,” Daryl told her. “Unlike the zombies.”  
“I love it.”  
“I’m freezing.”  
She just rolled her eyes at him but two mornings after it began the snow indeed let up. The world did look prettier. Enough snow had fallen that when they made their way outside they sunk in up to the ankles. Carol laughed. Daryl tried to enjoy himself though he couldn’t help but think this would make it harder if they needed to get anywhere fast.  
Snow was bloody everywhere.  
“Daryl!”  
“What?”  
“Try to enjoy this.”  
“It’s beautiful.”  
“But?”  
“But my feet are cold and already wet. Food’s going to be scarce…”  
“And?”  
Daryl considered.  
“You can’t think of anything else can you?”  
“Give me time.”  
She broke into a brilliant smile and the thing was even if Daryl could think of anything else Carol smiling, really smiling, was still enough to make his brain go haywire. He felt himself smiling back. Couldn’t help it. The woman could pull happiness from him. “I always wanted a White Christmas growing up. Of course I probably would have frozen to death.”  
“We should do all the things we missed. Build a snowman. Have a snowball fight…”  
“No.”  
“Make snow angels?”  
When he didn’t answer Carol took matters into her own hands and collapsed into the snow. For a fleeting minute he thought she had hurt herself and wanted to rush to her. Then she laughed and started moving her arms and legs to make the angels.  
“Come on!”  
“I’m not…”  
“Get down here.”  
“I need to be lookout.”  
“For what?”  
Good point.  
Nothing was moving but them. At least standing he was at an angle he could watch her and that always made him happy. Of course he gave in. He always gave in.

After they had made the snow angels they stood on the porch looking at them as though they were going to do something. Then Carol suddenly ran back inside the house and came out a minute later with his crossbow. “I’m not entirely sure it’s a good idea with a weapon but it will dry.”  
“What?”  
She made an imprint with the crossbow right near one of the arms of his snow angel. “Perfect.”  
They spent the rest of the afternoon on the porch keeping each other warm and watching a much lighter snowfall.

In the evening when the temperatures dropped Daryl found the walker. It was a full moon that night so he had more than enough light to see by. At first the thing startled the hell out of him and he almost lunged for it with his knife. He had left the crossbow with Carol. She was just better with it after his injury.  
Then he realized…  
It wasn’t moving.  
He took a couple of steps closer and the moonlight glistened off the sheen of ice that covered it.  
Daryl told himself he shouldn’t have been surprised. They had been breathing out clouds for the last several weeks themselves and the Walkers were nothing but decaying flesh. Now it was ice. From top to bottom. He could see crystals of ice in the drooping open patches where the thing had once had a full face.  
Daryl almost wanted to reach out and touch it. 

“If they’re freezing,” Carol asked later. “Do you think that would be enough to kill them? Have we ever seen the virus actually die on its own?”  
Daryl shrugged. “There have to be cases right? Hell, you’d think the food supply is running out.”  
“Doesn’t help that we still keep dying and turning.”  
“Can’t help that.”  
“If the cold does kill them then we should all keep going North.”  
“All?”  
“Everyone.”  
It wasn’t the first time it had come up. Not so much going back for good but going back for a family visit. But then again they had also talked about finding a boat and going out to sea. Lots of dreams. Lots of opportunities. Daryl shook his head. “It was easier when you could turn on the news and they could tell you what’s going on.”  
She leaned over and kissed his forehead. “We’ll be fine. We always manage to pull it off in the end.”  
He caught her before she could completely pull away from him, “Where’d you get all this faith?”  
“I didn’t get it,” Carol told him meeting his eyes her face only inches away from his. “Someone just helped me find it again.”

VI.

In the end it came down to the girl. And it was Carol who had to find her. Actually, she didn’t so much find her as the girl stumbled out from the trees when Carol was out on the porch.  
She had thought something was strange that morning. It was still too cold but the snow was beginning to melt and the dawn brought one of those winter days where the sun is as bright as can be despite the cold. She was sure, absolutely sure, there was something off about the day.  
When she took a couple of steps off the porch toward the trees she heard something crack.  
“Hello?”  
It was too late to take cover and mentally she was afraid she had screwed up but everything had been so quiet and so good recently. However, her hackles were definitely raised and she jumped out of her skin when a figure moved toward her.  
“Hello?”  
Carol took a step backward.  
The girl was pale as a ghost her lips a little blue and she was shivering. She had long blonde hair and her eyes... Well, Carol’s first thought was, Sophia. She almost called out to her but pushed the name out of her mind. She would have been about the right age though but Carol knew better than to let her emotions get the best of her. “Stay right there!”  
“I’m not…”  
“Don’t move! Daryl!”  
What a fool, Carol cursed herself. She didn’t even have a weapon yet the girl had stopped and was holding up her hands a panicked look on her face.  
“I’m not…”  
“Stop!”  
Carol noted the bruises on her face. A lot of them. Fresh covering old and nearly faded and she didn’t have to be that close to her to see several cuts.  
“Please…”  
“Carol?”  
“Out here!”  
“I’m not bitten!” the girl yelled at them. Daryl had appeared on the porch fast as light when he heard her and when he saw the girl, was at her side in the snow before she could blink. “I’m not bit! I don’t have weapons!”  
She saw the flash in his eyes and wondered if he saw it to. Sophia. Beth. Lizzie… She pushed it out of her mind.  
All the lost daughters.  
“Please!”  
“What are you doing out here?”  
“I’m trying to get away.”  
“Out in the cold?”  
“Better than where I’ve been.”  
“What happened to your hand?” Carol asked stepping back to the forefront. The girl spoke bravely and held her ground but she was obviously afraid of Daryl. When he had appeared she looked as though someone had stabbed her in the heart. After Carol interrupted she seemed to concentrate and talk easier to her. “You’re missing fingers.”  
“Punishment.”

This was the problem Daryl thought while he followed the girl’s tracks. She had told them she had been hiding in the town, had seen them come through a few days ago, hadn’t really been looking for them but this morning she had gotten desperate for food and water.  
Desperate wasn’t good.  
Her tale was adding up. There were no other tracks. She seemed to be alone. But this was why he was most willing to go back to Alexandria.  
To check her out he had to leave the girl with Carol. He couldn’t trust so easily- my God she looked like a cross between Sophia and Beth. He couldn’t imagine Carol not seeing it. Not being messed up by it. He adjusted the gun and decided to hurry back to the house. Get her out of there if he could. But he had a feeling even then that things had changed. For some reason Merle flashed through his mind unbidden and he thought, without doubt, he’d be seeing Rick soon enough.  
He picked up the pace and hurried back to Carol.

She couldn’t have been more than sixteen though she said she wasn't sure how old she was anymore. Out of her coat she was bones and any bare skin was a mass of bruises and scars.  
“We don’t really have any hot drinks here,” Carol wasn’t really sure what else to say.  
“I miss hot chocolate.”  
“Don’t we all.”  
She didn’t have any weapons though. She had let Carol search her. Daryl had insisted upon it before he had gone out this morning and now Carol was getting worried about him. The girl looked around the house but she didn’t seem to really see anything. She just stumbled after Carol.  
In another life she could have seen this girl taking dance classes probably being an excellent ballerina.  
She took her through the house to the small fireplace in the backroom that they used most often during the day. “Get warm, if you can. It’s not much.”  
“Thank you.”  
“You didn’t tell me your name.”  
The girl looked up at her with a sad look on her face but didn’t say anything. Carol noted close up that the missing fingers on her hand were probably not that recent.  
“You shouldn’t stay here when I go. I’m sorry about that.”  
“What do you mean? We’ve been here.”  
“They’ll come looking for me and you don’t want to meet them. I am sorry. I didn’t mean…”  
“It would help if I knew your name.”  
“Help what?”  
“Well,” Carol kind of blanked on that. It had been a while since she had been around anyone but Daryl. She saw way too much of herself in this kid. She broke down and went over to sit across from her. The girl flinched at the closeness but she didn’t move away. “It would help me know what to call you amongst other things.”  
“She gave me my name,” the girl shuddered. “I want to cut it off like she did pieces of me.”  
“She?”  
“My mother.”  
Carol felt herself go cold in a way that the fire wasn’t going to be able to help. Her mother?  
“Outside, you seemed scared of Daryl, I had thought…”  
“She gives me to them.”  
Now she just felt sick.  
“They’re just as bad as she is. She says I should understand. That’s how she needs to keep control…” the girl just shakes her head. “Look, I’ve screwed you guys as well. But I can’t go back to her… I'll keep going. But you shouldn't stay here.”  
“No.”  
“If she comes here...”  
“We’ve seen worse.”  
“No, you haven’t. I’m sorry. I should have kept walking…”  
“Hey, calm down. Daryl and I, we’ve both been where you are, in a way. I assure you that I understand.”  
But even as she said it Carol sincerely doubted that. Her mother had abused her? Given her away to keep her men in line? Cut off her fingers? If this girl was telling the truth and she ever meet this woman she told herself that one of them wouldn’t make it out alive. “We we’re actually headed out anyway.”  
“Go faster.”  
“You could come with us.” This close to the girl Carol smelled something off. Something that smelled old and decayed, like the walkers, and not a slight scent of bleach. She longed for Daryl and hoped he was on his way back.  
“I’d only get you killed.”  
“At least tell me your name so I have something to call you by while you’re here. Or tell me your mother’s name so I’ll know if I ever run into her.”  
“I’m Lydia,” the girl finally told her with her voice breaking. “She calls herself Alpha and trust me if you ever run into her the best you can do is run and hope that she kills you fast when she catches you."


End file.
